Police: Florence woman killed in crash by suspects fleeing drug bust

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. — A police administrator said this morning that undercover detectives weren’t pursuing a Monte Carlo allegedly involved in a drug deal before the Monte Carlo sped off and struck another car two blocks away, killing a Florence, S.C., woman.

The crash also injured 32-year-old Nachenga Robinson’s four passengers, including her three children.

“This is not a pursuit situation,” Pinellas Park Police Capt. Sanfield Forseth said.

At 8:51 p.m. Thursday, the two men in the Monte Carlo — later identified as Devonta T. Merriex, 20, and Rashane Deangelo Barber, 21, both of St. Petersburg — were at Park Place shopping mall, ostensibly to sell crack cocaine, Forseth said.

Barber, who was in the passenger seat, sold an undercover officer $140 worth of crack cocaine, Forseth said. As 11 undercover narcotics detectives and SWAT team members converged on the Monte Carlo, the driver, Merriex, sped off, Forseth said.

He left the mall in the 7200 block of U.S. 19, headed south at a high rate of speed, ran a red light and, at 70th Avenue, smashed into the driver’s side of a Ford Taurus, killing Robinson, the driver, Forseth said.

Inside the Taurus were Robinson’s three children, Obadiah, 11; I’on, 8; and Eric, 13. They did not suffer life-threatening injuries.

A woman riding as a passenger in the Taurus, identified as Caroline Johnson, 51, also of Florence, underwent surgery Friday morning at Bayfront Medical Center and was listed in critical condition, Forseth said. She is a friend of Robinson’s father. The group was staying at a hotel eight blocks away from where Robinson was killed.

After the wreck, Barber and Merriex bolted, Forseth said. Merriex was tracked by a police dog and was found hiding under some heavy vegetation behind a home at 2600 60th Ave., police records show. Barber was found talking on his cell phone at 6767 34th St. and refused to hang up when he was arrested, records show. He also braced his arms so as not to be handcuffed.

Forseth said Merriex was not being chased by police before he crashed. A supervisor overseeing the drug buy in the mall told detectives and SWAT team members to let him go once Merriex squeezed through two unmarked police cars that were trying to block the Monte Carlo.

Pinellas Park’s pursuit policy allows officers to chase a suspect only if the suspect has been involved in a violent felony, such as murder or rape. Selling crack cocaine does not qualify, Forseth said.

In addition, only marked police cruisers, equipped with lights and sirens, are allowed to chase vehicles, Forseth said. The vehicles converging on the Monte Carlo in the mall parking lot were unmarked cars, he said.

Merriex was charged with vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of an accident involving death, four counts of leaving the scene of a wreck involving serious injury, and loitering and prowling. The latter charge was filed after police say he was hanging around the neighborhood where he was eventually arrested.

Merriex was being held at the Pinellas County Jail on $80,250 bail.

It is apparent from police records that authorities had been targeting Barber as a suspected drug dealer for some time. He was charged with sale of cocaine, possession of cocaine and using a cell phone to make a drug transaction, in relation to Thursday night’s incident, police records say.

But he is also accused of selling drugs to an undercover narcotics detective on July 1, 3 and 8, records say. He is accused of using his cell phone to make those transactions, too.

All told, Barber is charged with four counts of possession of cocaine, four counts of sale of cocaine and four counts of unlawful use of a two-way device or cell phone to make a drug transaction. He is also charged with resisting arrest and a prior charge of failing to pay child support, jail records show.

Bail was set at $120,787.